REVIEW – The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

I have been looking forward to this book for months as I absolutely adored Yoon’s first novel, Everything Everything. I’m very thankful to Netgalley and Penguin Random House for giving me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Natasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

I was anticipating this book so much and I really wanted to like it. I expected that I would like it. Unfortunately I just thought it was ‘okay’.

The writing was great, the storyline was interesting and I bloody love science (this book has lots of lovely snippets about the science of the universe which is awesome). I just think I’m far too cynical and the book went so far into unrealistic territory I couldn’t believe in the story.

The book is set all in one day which I worried would become tiring. But actually Yoon’s writing is delicious and it’s broken up into short and snappy sections that make it a really easy read. Natasha is an undocumented immigrant, set to be deported that very day from America. Daniel is on his way to a college interview that his parents are forcing him to go to. After a number of ‘signs’ and coincidences the pair meet and Daniel is determined to make Natasha fall in love with him that day.

However the number of coincidences just accumulates to a dizzying amount and they just don’t stop. They continue right until the end of the book and it just went a bit too far for me. Not to say I didn’t get emotional at the ending – I did… but I get emotional at everything.

If you like YA books and you like romance, they you’ll probably love this book. I now know that there’s a limit to how much ‘insta-romance’ and ‘meantobe’ I can take!